The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-04
OUR WATER SUPPLY.
What is the Difficulty With Itf

What is the Difficulty With ltT
Editor Morning NeloS: That there is
''screw loose" somewhere seems to be gem
orally admitted, and while it may be well
understood by the chosen few, it is matter
for the people at large to inquire into and
they have the right to know From the
time when the present works were started,
has there been until Just now any serious
complaint in regard to the supply fur
nishedi There was a slight difficulty
in regard to the circulation, but this was
almost entirely removed by charging the
distributing mains in certain localities. In
regard to the fire engines, there is this diff
Guilty: The hydrant openings have an area
of 9-l0 inches; the engines receive by an
opening of y 80 inches. Now, if the water
in the mains is at rest, or nearly
so, it must be apparent that
the engines cannot draw a full
supply, but if it is backed by heavy pres
sure upon the mains from the works this
difficulty is materially lessened. Now, if
there has been no serious complaint or diff
Guilty until the arteSian project came into
the case, it is only natural to charge the
lately experienced defects or faults upon
this cauSe-and whence the necessity
for artesian water anyway! On all
this broad continent is there
city, having full and free supply of fresh
running water at the door, that has yet
digged into the bowels of the earth for
something betterl Has any chemist so far
discovered any delcterious qualities in our
river water! Has it not been in constant
use in Savannah and Augusta for over a
quarter of a century and no injury reported
in all this time. "Oh, but ii don't look NIGEL"
Well, then. aesthetic brother, that is true.
Many useful things don't look nice and even
You may not be full blown Oscar Wilde
yourself; but you have got your nice water
and we have had our fires and destruction
all the same as if the water had not been
mice" Yes, and some of the vulgar herd
are inclined 10 believe that it was because
of your running after this strange god.
Now, friend Oscar, ct id, you must admit
either that there was difficulty and danger
with the water supply originally, or that
it mas resulted from the artesian scheme
in either case, would it not have been better
had You given US an abundant supply of
river water first, either by larger pump
ends" or larger distributing mains, or las
originally intended by a suitably located
stand pipe, and then. If you had any sur
Plus wealth, YOU could have safely gone to
prospecting in the aesthetic direction. This
at least is the way it looks to one of the
RABBLE.
There were fires, and pretty big ones, be-
fore there was any effort made to use arte-
sian water River water can be obtained
as freely now as it ever could. The supply
from the river has not beer cut off There
are two sources of supply now where there
was only one before the artesian wells were
sunk, and both are available The lack of
supply, therefore, is not due to the artesian
wells. The fault must be elsewhere.
As to the artesian water, is it not purer
than the river waterl The analysis shows
that it is. And if it is, it is certainly more
desirable than river water for both drinking
and washing purposes, particularly when
the river water is heavily laden with silt.
There was no voice raised against artesian
water when it was first proposed to sink
artesian wells. About everybody wanted
artesian water apparently. Probably about
everybody wants it now. Before condemn
ing artesian water it would be well to show
first, that it is not as desirable as river
water, and second, that the scant water
supply, of which complaint has been made,
is due to the artesian wells-ED.J